


if there is time enough

by VagabondDawn



Category: Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen
Genre: Gen, Silver Queen's Dreaming of Sunshine Universe, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 08:13:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18752482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VagabondDawn/pseuds/VagabondDawn
Summary: Tobirama meets a strange ninja. All Shikako wants is help with a seal.





	if there is time enough

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Charientist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charientist/gifts).



> Request by Charientist
> 
> Nara Shikako & Senju Tobirama
> 
> I really enjoy pre-Shippuden Naruto (and all DoS) for the moments of forcing characters to solve new problems by getting more creative with the tools at hand -- and getting creative about acquiring tools. (As opposed to the later arbitrary/unearned powerups.) I also adore that Tobirama was always Shikako's favorite Hokage.
> 
> I'd love to see a fic that either has them on equal footing or a mentor/mentee relationship, preferably set after the founding of the village, that explores their practicality and creativity and other common ground.

“So, you see,” Tobirama says, directly to Hashirama while ignoring the dead-eyed stare that Uchiha Madara is giving him. Why Hashirama insists on making the Uchiha attend such meetings — when it’s clear he holds no interest in the formation of Konoha — would forever remain a mystery. “We have the resources for—” 

He cuts himself off, head snapping to the side, gaze drawn towards the mountain above the village, as though he could _see_ what his chakra sense had just registered. 

“Tobira?” Hashirama asks, half rising from his desk, a look of concern on his face. He’s more than familiar with his brother’s sensing and what it looks like when something has caught his attention. “What is it?” 

Tobirama hesitates. Under normal circumstances, he would have no problems telling Hashirama that he had just sensed a powerful ninja. Under normal circumstances, however, he would have sensed that ninja _long_ before they were so very close — which means this is very unusual indeed. 

And he’s too conscious of the presence of Uchiha Madara, watching them both. The _last_ thing he wants to do is let on that it is indeed possible to fool his sensory abilities — exposing such a weakness when he doesn’t even know how it was achieved is only asking for it to be exploited. Apathetic the Uchiha might currently be, but he’s a cunning, terrifying enemy to have and Tobirama won’t be the one to give him any more ammunition than he currently has. 

“I’ll deal with it,” he says instead, dropping the papers he was going through on Hashirama’s desk with a foreboding glare. “Make sure you _read these_ ,” he emphasises. “Don’t make me quiz you on them later.” 

Hashirama makes a face at him, sinking back down into his chair with a depressive rain cloud forming over his head in the hopes someone will take pity on him. Tobirama tries not to hurry too obviously as he makes his way out the door. 

He lets one of the patrolling ninja — Senju, of course — know that he’s sensed an incoming ninja and that they should be prepared. He’s vague about _where_ he’s sensed them, and his clan’s familiarity with the incredible size of his sensory range gives him leeway. They expect the incoming ninja to be miles out. 

It is slightly foolish of him — if this goes badly then no one will have any information with which to work out what went wrong. But they all rely so strongly on his sensory abilities to protect them… 

If people started to doubt him… 

And besides. It’s not _necessarily_ a threat. They _have_ started to send out invitations to the other great clans, in hopes that Konoha will be more than just Uchiha and Senju. It’s perfectly possible that this is one of those clans on a fact finding mission, or with a response. 

He checks his weaponry — lighter than he’d like if he’s about to encounter combat, but more than he would have worn to do administrative work when he was in the Senju compound — and carefully scales the side of the mountain. 

Whatever he expects… it’s not what he sees. 

The ninja he encounters is a girl of about fourteen, kneeling in seiza several paces back from cliff lookout and watching the village with a calm expression. She has no weapons, and her hands are flat and empty on her thighs. 

Even as he approaches her, her chakra draws back in and… reduces, stops blaring in his senses like an alarm and a threat. She reads less like a ninja that could be his equal and more like a beginner. 

It’s a trick he has _never_ felt before and it only makes him more wary of her, though clearly she means to be non-threatening. There’s nothing non-threatening about being able to conceal one’s presence and strength so utterly. It’s possible that its the alternative — that the feeling of strength was the illusion, some kind of genjutsu or protection — but it’s a dangerous thing to assume someone is weaker than you think, underestimating an opponent is the easiest way to die. 

She’s too _calm._ Surely no one would be calm in this situation unless they were confident in their abilities. 

“State your business,” he says harshly, one hand on his sword hilt. He can draw and decapitate her in a fraction of a second. 

She seems undaunted. “Hey, Senju-san,” she says, and waves. “I mostly came here to talk to you. Sorry about the, uh, trespassing, I guess. But you don’t really have, like, a gate or anything down there. Which is something you should maybe look at if you want visitors?” 

There are too many ways to take… any of that. “What,” he says flatly, hoping for some amount of elaboration. 

She shrugs. “I have a seal,” she says, as if that’s not a terrifying, threatening sentence. “It’s kind of, uh—” she scratches her cheek. “—fucked.” 

He can feel his face freeze at such crude language used so brazenly. 

“And I’ve tried to fix it myself,” she goes on, spreading her hands like _what can you do_ , “and that hasn’t worked. So obviously… I’ve got to look for a second opinion. And who better than Senju Tobirama? Everyone knows you’re the very best.” 

Flattering, he supposes. “I’m not seeing any _particular wisdom_ in helping a strange ninja with a seal.” 

“Well, that’s fair,” she agrees amicably, like she’s not particularly worried about his rejection. “We could, like, introduce ourselves. Be friends and not strangers. I could let you copy my sealing notes, you know. The usual friend things.” 

And then… she has a book in her hands. It must have been sitting to the side of her, just out of sight, but she pulls it into her lap and opens it. From the distance, all he can see as she rifles through the pages is small, clean type and neat diagrams. 

His hands itch to take it. His own sealing knowledge is hard won and heavily fought for. To be simply handed an opportunity... 

He could always refuse to help with her seal later — or rather, in order to see what was wrong with it he’d first have to examine it, and _that_ would give him a very good idea of whatever her plot was. 

He weighs the odds. Seals can be terribly, terribly dangerous, but the chances of her being able to sabotage them while he’s watching her… and even then Hashirama will be there too, lurking in the background. 

“Notes first,” he bargains. 

She huffs and then laughs. “ _Introductions_ first,” she corrects. “We’re about to be friends, remember?” 

* * *

Shikako is not exactly _trusted_ per se, and her allowance into Konoha comes with the unspoken caveat that she remains at Tobirama’s side. 

Which is fine. There’s not exactly anywhere else that she wants to _be_ in this old timey Konoha. There’s basically nothing of the village she knows, and the only people inside it are Senju and Uchiha — both of who regard her with distrust. 

The downside is that Tobirama is extremely, extremely busy. 

It was one thing to _know_ that the Nidaime had designed most of Konoha from the ground up, but quite another to watch it in action. A little part of her is perfectly delighted by it in a simple, uncomplicated sort of way — knowing that she’s witnessing history, and one of her personal heroes in their non-fighting element — but the rest of her is mostly sympathetic as she watches him struggle with a multi-person workload. 

“Come on,” she says, moving around his desk so she can stand next to his chair and peer down at the pages spread out across the desk. “Let me do _some_ of it. There’s gotta be something unclassified enough to hand off to me.” 

“Why would you even _want_ to?” he asks, with the abrupt-but-distracted tone of voice that means she has half his attention, maybe less. She’s become very familiar with that tone of voice and suspects she only gets _that_ much attention because he doesn’t trust her not to, like, stab him the second his back is turned or whatever. 

She rolls her eyes, glad he can’t see from that angle. “The quicker this gets done the more time you have to work on my stuff, obviously,” she says. “You haven’t even finished copying my notes yet. And, like, I admire your work ethic and dedication but at this rate it’ll take approximately five-ever.” 

“... forever?” Tobirama corrects, but with a rising intonation that means she’s made him suddenly doubt. 

“Right, forever,” Shikako says and reminds herself again to not confuse the old timey folks with slang. She leans against his shoulder which makes him stiffen — but in a Kakashi-sensei way of ‘this person definitely does not have enough hugs in their life’ not in a ‘will stab you’ way, so she gently ignores it — and reaches across to grab a pile he has yet to touch. “You know you’ll double check everything I do _anyway_ , so just let me help.” 

He doesn’t stop her, so that means she’s right and that she’s won. Her victory allows her to do paperwork though, so it’s really not much of a victory at all. Better than being bored out of her skull, but a terrible choice to have made. 

She’s not exactly familiar with the process of setting _up_ a village, but she is familiar with the end result and how Konoha _should_ be, so she has a better grasp on what to do and suggestions to make than she might have expected. 

“And, done!” she says brightly, some hours later, stacking the last of it into his out-tray. 

Tobirama blinks at his cleared desk, like this is a very startling outcome. “There’s still—” he says, clearly meaning to keep going. 

“But seals?” Shikako asks, with her most pitiful expression. Seals are superior to paperwork at all times. 

He hesitates and she can sense his resolve weakening, so she whips out the seal textbook just to provide a physical temptation. 

“It can wait till tomorrow,” he allows and follows her out of his office. 

She’s not kidding that it’s taking them ages to get through copying her notes. Mostly because they aren’t just copying them — he’ll ask a question and then _she’ll_ ask a question and suddenly they’re having a spirited debate instead of making progress, even if he always frowns afterwards like he hadn’t meant to do that. It’s kinda nice though, and it’s not like she’ll ever have _another_ chance to talk seals with the Nidaime. 

They even scrape together a handful of new seals. Minor things, really, but they still make her giddy with delight. 

Even if she’d really like to get home and is impatient for them to get to the part where he even _looks_ at her seal… it’s kind of nice. 

* * *

Tobirama doesn’t anticipate how much having an assistant actually _helps_ in making his days go smoother — though, to be fair, this particular assistant seems uniquely suited to this exact situation. 

Which should be terrifyingly suspicious, but he goes over every piece of work and every suggestion thoroughly and… there’s nothing to be concerned with. Or rather — there are many things to be concerned with: She raises points that are wild and challenging and pushing boundaries and beyond any idea of a cooperative village that they could even conceive of… but nothing that seems designed to harm either of their clans or damage the functioning of the village. 

And it’s not until weeks later, until he finally finishes copying out her notes and agrees to look over whichever seal made her seek out his help in the first place that he begins to understand why. 

“You didn’t… say anything about this,” he says, eyes drinking in the complicated seal pattern again, like the meaning might have changed since the first ten times he’s gone over it. He can hardly believe it, and there’s a chance his assumptions are wrong… 

She shrugs, leaning back against the wall, deliberately casual. “Would you have believed it?” she asks, and the answer is clear. 

_No_ , he wouldn’t have believed _time travel_ as a reason for her behaviour. 

“Where— how far—” he starts to ask, unsure if he really wants to know. Who is she, really? What made her seek him out? Do they know each other? Is it simply that she had no other choice? 

In response, she holds out a square of some kind of hard paper. 

He takes it. There’s a small painted image of her, a little younger but not much. _Ninja Registration License: Konohagakure no Sato. Nara Shikako._

"You said your name was Kako,” he says, which is probably the smallest possible thing to feel hurt over. Almost instantly he can acknowledge that there was no way she could admit to being a Nara and get this far, but it doesn’t make being lied to feel any better. 

“People do call me that,” she says. “Mostly family but it’s still… you should still use it. I’ll come up with a cutesy nickname for you too, and we’ll match. Friendship.” She bumps against his shoulder, looking hopeful. 

“Do not,” he says automatically. “Is this why you think we should invite the Akmichi alliance?” That they already had is information he’s kept from her, thinking it unlikely that the InoShikaChou would agree and that she had some kind of agenda by suggesting it. Which is maybe true but in a way he could have never anticipated. 

He tries to wrap his head around the idea that Konoha _lasts_. He hopes, of course, and they’re working hard to make it so but… it's something different to simply _know_ it will. To have evidence, proof, a living witness. 

How many of the suggestions she made are simply things that _will happen_? What is it _like_? Will he live to see it all unfold?  


“Uh, yeah, and also they’re awesome,” she says. “And, you know, you must have had other reasons to invite them… unless I’m creating a stable time loop… but _anyway_. It’s a good idea and they’re great. Invite them.” 

He hands her _registration license_ back, boggling at the idea of a Konoha so formalised it issues _licenses_ , and she makes it vanish into her pocket. He has so many questions for her, almost too many to know where to start. 

But his eyes drift back to the seal. For him — this is knowledge of the future. But to her… she’s stuck in the _past._

“I’m not sure,” he says cautiously, gesturing at the seal, “that I’ll be able to fix this.” 

Over the last few weeks, he’s learnt that she’s no slouch at seals herself — if she’s tried and failed… 

“But you’ll try?” she asks and for once doesn’t quite manage to hide how anxious she is. Of course she is. Of course this matters to her above and beyond everything else. 

He nods, firmly. “We’ll try.” 


End file.
